In one of the closest races in MLB history, Miami Marlins right fielder Giancarlo Stanton edged Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto by two points to win the 2017 National League MVP Award. Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt finished third in voting.
When the NL MVP finalists were announced, there was some surprise the Los Angeles Dodgers, who led the Majors with 104 wins, weren’t represented. Justin Turner was an early candidate, and Cody Bellinger became a trendy pick over the summer.
The only Dodgers player to win a 2017 Baseball Writers Association of America award was Bellinger, the unanimous selection for Rookie of the Year. Turner finished eighth in MVP voting, while Bellinger was ninth.
Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager also appeared on the final MVP ballot. That Turner wasn’t guaranteed at least a top-three finish came as a surprise to Brandon Morrow, who is a free agent after completing a first season with the Dodgers.
In an interview on The Bullpen With DA, Morrow discussed Turner’s snub and offered a possible solution to MVP voting:
“That’s tough to comprehend. The numbers that guy put up, hitting in the middle of a lineup that wins 104 games, that’s tough to overlook. … I don’t know who else would be above or near [Turner]. Votto has ridiculous numbers, like slugging, OPS, OPS+. I don’t know that I hold to your team has to be good. Maybe they should have two different awards. The Most Outstanding Player goes to the best player, I guess, and then you would have Joey Votto win that. And then an MVP, the guy who meant the most to his club, and obviously that would be a winning club. So, somebody like Goldschmidt or maybe Justin Turner.”
In 543 plate appearances over 130 games this season, Turner hit .322/.415/.530 with 32 doubles, 21 home runs and 71 RBI. The 32-year-old added elite defense at the hot corner and posted career-bests in on-base plus slugging percentage (.945) and Baseball-Reference’s calcuation of WAR (5.7).
While MVP voting takes place before the start of the playoffs, Turner built on his strong regular-season performance with a postseason for the ages.
The Long Beach, Calif. native collected 16 hits over 56 at-bats (.286 batting average) and slugged four home runs — including a memorable walk-off shot against the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the NL Championship Series.
